Variable-stroke crank.



PATENTED FEB, 13, 1906. J.VG. GALLAN. VARIABLE STROKE CRANK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, 1904.

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witnesses UTE nn'r @FHQE.

JOHN G. OALLAN, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF-NEW YORK.

VARlABLE-STROKE CRANK,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Iatented Feb. 13, 1906.

' Application filed ly 11, 190% Serial No. 215,991.

a reciprocating element is caused to impart rotary motion to a shaft.

The invention is especially applicable to enginessuch, for instance, as gasolene automobile-en ines for thepurpos'e of varying the stroke 0 the piston or pistons, and thus re ulating the torque of the engine-shaft.

n the accompanying-drawings, Fi ure 1 is a sectional elevation on the line 1 1, ig. '2, of a two cylinder explosive engine equipped with my lnvention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 3 3, Fig. 1.

The engine shown is merely illustrative, and its structural features form 110 part of the present invention. The two cylinders 1 are 4 parallel, being conveniently cast integral with the bearings 2 for the main shaft 3, said bearings being between the cylinders, with their axis in'the plane of the axes of said cylinders.

The front end of the shaft may be provided with a fly-wheel 4, while its rear end is attached b a hinge-joint 5 to a short shaft 6, 'ournale in the hub of a wabbler7, which as two arms extending symmetrically on.

each side of said hub. In each arm is a socket for the ball -8 on the rear end of a connectingrod 8, whose front end is attached by a similar ball-and-socket joint to the piston 9 in the cylinder 1.

A casing lO-is bolted tothe rear end of the cylinders and forms a housing for the wabbler. It is also rovided with a stationar guide 11, lying in t eplane of the shaft 3 an cooperatmg with one end of the wabbler to maintain its oscillations in said plane.

The end of the casing is reduced in dimension and altered in shape to form abell-shaped portion 12, provided with a reduced tubular prolongation 13. In the latter is fitted a slide 14, adapted to move ina line parallel with the axis of the shaft and provided with means for effecting said actuation, preferably the torquebeing reduced'almost to zero.

a longitudinal screw 15, meshing with a tappe hole in said slide and journa ed 1 n the end of the prolongation 13. The proiectmg .end of the screw has a wheel 16 or the ike for rotating it to shift the position of the slide.

A shaft 17 is journaled in the slide in alinement with the main shaft 3. On the end adjacent to the wabbler is a crank which 18 hinged at one endto' the shaft and at. the

other end to the short shaft 6 in the wabbler.

crank-shaft 17 and pivoted thereto by the 7 transverse pin 19. A similar pin 20 attaches the links to the wa'bbler-shaft 6.

The operation is as follows: When the parts stand in the positions shown in Fig. 1, the crank is at right angles with its shaft 17, and conse uently thepistons 9 have their full stroke an exert the greatest torque on the shaft; butif the slide is drawn'out, so that the links 18 are com elled to make an angle of less than ninety egrees with the shaft 17' the effective lengthof the crank islessened,

'and the pistons cannot make a full stroke.

By retracting the slide far enough the links Wlll strai hten out nearly in line with the shafts an the pistons can move but slightg,

Y proplerly locating the joint 19 with reference to t the-pistons can be stopped completely, which is desirable in some kinds of apparatus, such as pumps.

. The invention thus affords a convenient and efficient means for varying the stroke of the pistons from maximum to minimum and correspondingly altering the torque of the shaft. p

. In accordance withthe provisions of the patent statutes I have described the principle of operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to.

re resent the best embodiment thereof; but I esire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carriedout b other means.

What I claim as new, and esire to secure ing the shaft to vary the angle between the said crank and the axisof the shaft.

e axis of the shaft 17 the movement of 2. The combination of two rotating shafts, a third shaft hinged to one of them and imparting rotation thereto, and a connecting member hinged to the other rotating shaft and the third shaft, "the axes of the hinged connections between the several arts being transverse to the axis .of rotatlon of the of a crank hinged thereto, a member connected with said crank and rotating in a plane perpendicular to the axis of-the shaft, a slide in which said crank-shaft is j ournaled a bearingfor the slide and shaft, and means for reciprocating said slide in the bearing to move the shaft longitudinally.

5. The combination in an e ine corn rising a wabbler, of a crank-shat, a sli e in which said shaft is j ournaled, and with which the latter is longitudinally movable, and a crank hinged to said shaft and connected with the wabbler.

6. The combination in an engine comprising a W'abbler, of a shaft jou'rnaled in the hub of the wabbl-er, and relativelyrotatable therein, a crank-shaft, a slide in which said crankshaft is j ournaled, and a crank hin ed directly to the crank-shaft and to the Wab ler-shaft.

7. The combination of two rotating and axiall -alining shafts, a third shaft hinged to one of hem and adapted to drive the same, a crank hinged to the other rotating shaft and to the third shaft, and a means for adjusting therelative position of the rotating shafts to change the relation between the crank and the third shaft.

In witness whereof Ihave hereunto set my hand this 7th day of July, 1904.

JOHN G. OALLAN.

Witnesses: DUGALD MoK. MCKILLOP,

HENRY O. WESTENDARP. 

